Going with this image because Sayla is best girl of the show.
BEST. GIRL.
Hello there, long time no see. Blogging
output stalled out for a while, partly because of (positive) changes
in work schedules, and also because I've been forging ahead on a pulp
novel time permitting. So reading classic SF/F has kind of dropped
off for the moment.
But in the name of “research,” I
went back and watched Mobile Suit Gundam
all the way through.
Mobile Suit Gundam aired on Japanese television in 1979 and birthed a brand new
sub-genre of giant robot fiction: the “Real Robot.” Where the 60s
and 70s had a thriving “Super Robot” field populated with
classics like Tetsujin-28 Go, Mazinger Z, and Getter Robo (worthy in
their own ways), Yoshiyuki Tomino's Gundam treated giant robots less
as giant superheroes calling out their attacks, and instead as
advanced weapons of war against a backdrop of space opera and large
scale warfare. More Space Battleship Yamato meets
Starship Troopers than
Giant Robo/Johnny Socko and his Flying Robot.
In this house we respect Daitarn 3
This
isn't a knock on Super Robots. I actually prefer them, to be honest,
but Real Robots are damn good too, and Gundam stands at the top of that heap.
Except
it wasn't always so. The show was initially a failure, and low
ratings led to early cancellation and a mad dash to finish the series
at 43 episodes with a dwindling budget. It wasn't until reruns, a
compilation trilogy of animated movies in 1981, and perhaps most
importantly, the introduction of plastic model “Gunpla” kits in
1980 that transformed Mobile Suit Gundam
from a flop to a mega franchise. As far as 40 year old science
fiction franchises go, its as important as Star Wars,
equally as merchandised, and actually in a much healthier state,
currently. (Yes, a holding pattern without much innovation IS
healthier than a dumpster fire rapidly bleeding long-time fans).
Back to the show itself: The year is 0079 of the Universal Century.
Mankind has set up multiple large space colonies as a unified Earth
Federation takes control. One group of Colonies, collectively called
Side 3, renames itself to the Principality of Zeon, declares
independence from the Federation, and declares war. In rapid
succession, nuclear and biological chemicals are heavily used, and
Zeon achieves early dominance in space thanks to newly developed
mechs called “Mobile Suits.” Oh yeah, and Zeon gassed a neutral
colony, killing everyone on it, and then dropped said colony onto
Earth, hoping to destroy the Federation's capital. Instead it
destroyed a giant chunk of Australia.
This
backstory all happened in about 8 months.
The
show picks up at the Side 7 colony, where the Federation's top secret
Project V mobile suit development is taking place. Amuro Ray, the
teenage son of one of the head engineers, is thrust into the cockpit
of his dad's mobile suit, the RX-78-2 Gundam, when two Zeon scouts
get ahead of themselves and try to destroy the Federation facility.
Stumbling
his way through his first couple of fights, Amuro is effectively
forced into a combat pilot role alongside the crew and civilians of
the carrier White Base, and the makeshift crew:
Bright
Noa: A naval ensign forced to take the burden of command when the
original captain is fatally wounded.
Mirai
Yashima: The daughter of a wealthy family whose father died early in
the war, who's glider training makes her the best suited to take the
helm.
Fraw
Bow: Amuro's childhood friend/sort-of-girlfriend thrust into a
Communications/team mom for the orphan kids on the ship role.
Hayato
Kobayashi: Amuro's neighbor and friend who's more grounded but less
talented. He becomes the pilot of the Guntank, a clunky artillery
mobile suit. Think Krillin before Krillin.
Kai
Shiden: An abrasive, sarcastic, cowardly loner who gets drafted into
a combat role almost against his will. After some significant
character development, Kai becomes the second-most dependable pilot
on the ship, operating the Guncannon mid-range artillery mobile suit.
Ryu
Jose: A stocky pilot cadet and the only combat pilot on the White
Base with any actual training to start with. Not a particularly good
pilot, but he does his best to keep the crew together. Bounces
between a Core Fighter and co-piloting the Guntank.
Sayla
Mass: A mysterious blonde girl who's the sister of Zeon ace pilot
Char Aznable (oh we'll get to him in a bit) who becomes one of the
most well-adjusted members of the crew, first on the bridge, then as
a combat pilot in the G-Fighter.
Except these three. These kids are the worst.
The
show follows the White Base as it fights its way to Earth, then
across the Earth, then back to space as the Federation rallies for an
offensive against Zeon's territories. People change, important,
likable character die off dramatically, and Amuro grapples with the
toll the war is taking on him while he grows as a pilot and
eventually awakens as a Newtype (a kind of step in human evolution
adapted for living in space that, in practical terms, gives
heightened spacial awareness that gives Newtype pilots a significant
edge against “Oldtype” pilots, but when ramped up dramatically
turns into Acid Trip levels of SPAAAACE MAGIC).
While
Zeon's status as the aggressor in the war makes them the default bad
guys, the show goes to great lengths to make both sides human. The
White Base crew are clearly good guys, but the Federation as a whole
is bureaucratic, slow to react, and impersonal, with a few heroic
standouts like Matilda, Wakkein, and Sleggar “CHAD OF CHADS” Law.
Most of the lower level Zeon troops are decent people fighting for
their country and trying to survive. Some, like guerilla
warfare/moustache expert Ramba Ral are downright tragic heroes. Even
the ruling family of Zeon, the Zabis, isn't all bad. Supreme ruler
Degwin Zabi compares his tyrannical son Gihren to Hitler when he
tries to scold him for his cruelty. Vice-Admiral Kycillia is a
manipulative ice queen. But Admiral Dozle Zabi is a loving father and
a soldier's soldier who's only real flaw is his fierce pride, and
Garma Zabi is a naive fop at worst.
And
then there's Char Aznable.
Building
off of a previous Tomino character, Prince Sharkin from Brave
Raideen, Char is a dashing
masked enemy ace pilot and a viewpoint antagonist who initially comes
across as a Red Baron type. But while loyal to Zeon, he's plotting a
secret revenge against the Zabi family, for he is Casval Deikun, the
missing son of the late Zeon Deikun who founded the Republic of Zeon
and who died of sudden and mysterious circumstances allowing Degwin
to take over.
Amuro's
a good guy trying to do right by the world and his friends, but Char
is a deeply compelling antagonist with all kinds of nooks and
crannies of character development to dig into. Part heroic war hero,
part revenge-driven madman, Char's such an effective character that
he's become an archetype. Every subsequent Gundam series has its own
variation of a Char Clone: a mysterious, often masked ace pilot who
has his own code and agenda that he follows. Char is easily
one of the best villains in all of anime.
But here I am talking about the effects
of Mobile Suit Gundam and not about the show itself. Its good. Very good, actually. The characters are
likable and compelling. The mech designs range from iconic for the
Gundam and the Zaku II to the adorably goofy like the Zakrello and
the Guntank. The action works well too, considering the late 70s
made-for-TV budget, especially the Battle of Jaburo, Battle of
Solomon, Duel in Texas Colony (yeah, really), and the Battle of A Bao
Qu being major standouts. The animation also nosedives in a lot of
places near the end as the show had to wrap things up. Even the
pacing is largely solid, with the worst patch being the stretch
between the Garma arc and before Ramba Ral shows up. Those episodes
have a lot of drawn out filler as Amuro mopes around feeling sorry
for himself and going AWOL a couple times.
Beyond
just being an Important Show For Anime, Mobile Suit Gundam
is genuinely entertaining, and I do recommend it. 43 episodes of a
late 70s anime might be asking a bit much, but that's what I hear the
compilation movies are for (even if they cut out a ton of stuff like
the Texas Duel). Either way, its worth a watch.
